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Making Better Choices: Using the CWiC Framework to Find Courseware That's Right for You

Making Better Choices: Using the CWiC Framework to Find Courseware That's Right for You

Navigating the market of courseware solutions can be overwhelming. How do you identify courseware that meets the needs of your students? What constitutes “good” courseware? What are best practices when evaluating product features and efficacy research? The Courseware in Context Framework supports postsecondary decision-makers in navigating the market of courseware solutions. It is designed to help drive better-informed adoption and implementation decisions with the goal of improving outcomes for students. The Framework offers faculty, administrators, and instructional designers an inventory of product capabilities along with research and implementation guides.

Join us as we dive into the CWiC Framework and instruments, including how the instruments were developed and their intended use. Listen to how the University of Georgia is using the framework currently, including observations and suggestions for best use.

Speaker Bio

Karen Pedersen, Ph.D., Online Learning Consortium

Dr. Karen Pedersen currently serves as the Chief Knowledge Officer for the Online Learning Consortium (OLC). She is involved in multiple initiatives including a policy education and advocacy project with the emphasis on pending changes to the Higher Education Act, conceptualizing and launching a next generation digital courseware award program, as well as driving growth in the organization’s quality tools. Prior to joining OLC, Pedersen served as the Associate Vice President for Extended Campuses at Northern Arizona University. In this role she was responsible for leading a system-wide enrollment management transformation as well as managing marketing, technology, and academic operations. With a focus on operational excellence, Pedersen served as the Lean champion for Extended Campuses launching a train-the-trainer approach to realize process improvement within the division.

Gates Bryant, Tyton Partners

Gates joined Tyton Partners as a partner in 2011 in the strategy consulting practice. Gates is an experienced general manager and strategy consultant with a successful track record for bridging the gap between innovative strategy and practical execution. Prior to joining Tyton Partners, Gates was an executive with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, working in strategy, product management, and finance during a period of dramatic change in the educational publishing and technology industry. Prior to joining Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Gates spent seven years as a strategy consultant with the Parthenon Group. He advised clients on issues of revenue growth, profit improvement, and opportunities for mergers and acquisitions in the information, education, publishing, and technology industries. Gates began his career as an investment consultant with Cambridge Associates where he evaluated global private equity and venture capital funds on behalf of foundations, endowments and other institutions. From 2010 to 2014, Gates served on the start-up team of Edify, a US-based nonprofit that provides microloans, curriculum, and training to Christian schools in Africa and Latin America. Gates holds a BA in Government from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth.

Dr. Eddie Watson, Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Georgia

Dr. Eddie Watson is the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Georgia where he leads university efforts associated with faculty development, TA development, student learning outcomes assessment, learning technologies, media and production services, classroom support and learning spaces, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. At UGA, he teaches courses on College Teaching and has taught at the secondary, undergraduate, and graduate levels. He is also a Fellow in UGA’s Institute for Higher Education and is the executive editor of both the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and the International Journal of ePortfolio. Over the past four years, he has earned five external grants focusing on open educational resources and has a book scheduled to be published in early 2017 with José Bowen entitled Teaching Naked Techniques: A Practical Guide to Designing Better Classes (Jossey-Bass).